Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally rubber compositions and more specifically to rubber compositions useful in the manufacture of tires.
Description of the Related Art
Tire designers strive to improve the way tires operate and handle on the road by seeking, for example, improvements as to how well tires are able to grip the road when the road is dry, wet or covered with ice and/or snow. They may also seek improvements as to how comfortable the ride is for the driver and passengers including, for example, the noise level and the smoothness of the ride. Tire designers may also seek improvements in those areas that affect the costs associated with operating tires including tire wear and rolling resistance since a tire with a high wear rate will have to be replaced sooner and a tire with high rolling resistance will cause increased fuel consumption.
While tire designers would like to achieve improvements in all of these areas, it is also known that they must typically compromise on certain characteristics associated with the tire they are designing. Often changing a tire design to improve one characteristic of the tire will often result in a compromise; i.e., an offsetting decline in another tire characteristic. One such comprise exists between tire wear and wet braking. It is known, for example, that tire wear may be improved by increasing the amount of polybutadiene blended into the tread's rubber composition but that typically results in the resulting compromise of decreased wet braking performance, which is known to be improved by decreasing the polybutadiene content of the tire tread.
Tire designers and those conducting research in the tire industry search for materials and tire structures that can break some of the known compromises. It would be desirable to provide new tire designs that break other known compromises.